Fri
25
Sep '09
Launch Issues – Redux
Rog posted in MMO
I wrote a wall of text on this topic the other day, but I’m going to paraphrase and remix myself:
MMO Players are highly tolerant of launch problems. Some will shout and cry, others may declare them features, still others may skip launch altogether or leave and resample the game later.
They will still play.
In the end, the game will be received on its merits and the launch issues a fading memory, having as much relevance as anything else you no longer experience. Nostalgia will even set in for some bugs.
“Remember getting stuck in flower-picking animation?”
That’s if you consider queues a “Launch problem”. I do not. I see them as a problem solver, avoider, stopgap measure.
The measure that they made is not logical to me. They know they have small severs, yet they let everyone go afk for a crazy amount of time. Now they are going to decrease the afk period so people can log in? That does not solve the problem, or maybe it will after everyone gets pissed off and goes too an mmo that works.
I think large numbers of players not being able to reasonably play the game for nearly a week is a “launch problem”, absolutely.
How well NCSoft responds and bounces back is far more important.
@keen – Wait… what? preventing people from playing is a good thing? O_o
Server queues (which are not a problem if you have one big server) are a band-aid to cover up the fact that they do not have large enough servers.
It becomes very obvious that yes, it IS a problem when NCsoft is addressing it by cutting down on AFK stores so that people can actually play their game and not sit in a queue. You could say the problem is the AFK stores, or you could say the problem is the server size since this is not a new game and i find it hard to believe that NCsoft had no idea that people would always run AFK stores. Booting the people running AFK stores is no doubt the easiest and cheapest fix to queues. Regardless of how you look at it (severs/AFK stores) it IS a Problem.
So now we have that clear, lets move on the the next part:
Currently the game is in its “launch” stage… yes?
Wow, that one was easy!
hmm… ok this seems pretty simple. We have a problem happening at the launch of the game and therefore it is fair to sum it up as a “Launch Problem”.
weeeee…. i get a gold star! =D
Seeing server queues as a positive is like calling this glass of water one-tenth full. (Okay, there’s not really a glass. Work with me.) People who are enjoying their games are going to find all the silver linings, no matter how thinly they’re spread. Heck, even with all the complaints about the states of Champions, I can’t tear myself away from it.
Also, I look forward to telling everyone that I was there when…